100 miles later… Moon Comet light set

As an advocate of bike visibility, I was keen to test these ‘safety’ front and rear light set from highly regarded Moon. They didn’t disappoint.

Both put out a serious amount of bright light, which makes them visible in day as well as night. The side lights are a nice design touch, as is the convenience of USB recharging. I did find their run times a little less than other safety lights I’ve owned, but suspect it’s down to the brightness.

The £63 price tag may seem expensive, but having a good set of lights is invaluable to me.

Contact: www.raleigh.co.uk

This article was first published in the October 25 issue of Cycling Weekly. You can also read our magazines on Zinio and download from the Apple store.

Martin Clarke

Agreed that the battery life is short ( I too was taken by surprise to find the thing had switched off before the end of my 80-90 minute return commute, on brightest flash setting. However I’d not charged it since the night before, so it had done at least 90 mins). I will test its duration more scientifically, but the message is: charge after each ride. Realistically all you can expect for something that weighs nowt. I always use 2 rear lights anyway, so have a Smart with rechargeables that seems to last 2-3 commutes, so ca 6-9 hours. Mounting the Moon is a challenge. The saddle rail option is out, as I have a Topeak seat pack and the Smart uses the bottom bit of seatpost. Luckily, the supplied seat rail clamp grips a flat plate on my rack pretty securely and the Moon is easily removed upwards.

bruno

Hi, I have to back up comments from Rockhopper and Jeffersaurus. On flashing (low) mode, I last less than 45 min (I tried both laptop and table charger). Hopefully, I use another cateye classical AA battery light because I promise you it is a bad surprise to reach home after a 40 min commuting through Bangkok Traffic to see your light has been dead for god knows how long. Quite disappointed with the product despite its good brightness.

Jeffersaurus

Similar to Rockhopper I am finding the light doesn’t last very long at all. So much so I think mine is faulty – it either isn’t charging properly or losing charge when turned off some how. Two or three commutes home I have turned around to see the light is off – quite scary.

Currently I am carrying my trust Cateye 4 LED rear light, which has been faultless for 3 years and get plenty of run time out of a pair of rechargeable duracels!

Rockhopper

I love my Moon Comet rear light.. shame I only at best get 90 mins run time on lowest power flash mode and 45-60 mins on lower power solid light mode.. any of the higher setting blast the battery in a very short time indeed and on a 2.5Hrs night training ride on dark un-light lanes, it’s not a great experience. I’ve tried various different USB charging sources i.e. phone and higher power table chargers, as well as a traditional PC USB charger but all produce the same dismal results. I’m having to re-fit my old rear light as a back up now which some what defeats the object of ‘upgrading’ to this sleek and impressive lamp. Overall – I’m disappointed with the performance, but love the modern design and unbelievable power of the light even on its lowest setting!

David

Very nice and very bright light. Battery life is also very good for a light of this size and weight. Multiple settings so this will please all but the hardest critics. USB chargeable is a plus as well since you could in essence just carry the USB cable if necessary.

Two mounts. My only real gripe about this light system is the under seat rail mount. The orientation of the click in part is at such an angle that IF the click in fails for any reason, including natural wear, it will just drop out and you will be out of a light.

Turning the under seat rail mount upside down to prevent this unintended, or is it, drop out of the socket did not work as the hinges that let you adjust the angle of the light are one way only. Poor design if you ask me. But then again lots of products are made to fail and have built in obsolescence. But would i buy another if i lose this? I think not. But then again i am not planning on letting my light drop out of the socket if the click in part fails since i use the rubber banded mount you see above which can be adjusted so this will not happen.

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